![Leon Abbey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Leon_Abbey.jpg)
Leon Alexander Anthony Abbey (May 7, 1900 – September 1975) was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
violinist and
bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
on May 7, 1900, to Luther James Robert Abbey and Eva Lee Alexander.
He started his career in 1920 as a classical violinist with the orchestra of
J. Rosamond Johnson
John Rosamond Johnson (August 11, 1873 – November 11, 1954; usually referred to as J. Rosamond Johnson) was an American composer and singer during the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, he had much of his career in New York C ...
. Five years later, he recorded with
Clara Smith
Clara Smith (March 13, 1894 – February 2, 1935) was an American classic female blues singer, billed as the "Queen of the Moaners", although she had a lighter and sweeter voice than many of her contemporaries. Clara Smith was not related to ...
on "If You Only Knowed" and "You Better Keep the Home Fires Burning". In 1926, he led the
Savoy Bearcats and toured with the band the next year in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. For a decade, he toured throughout Europe and performed in India two times.
He led a band with blues singer
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...
. In Chicago he led a trio until 1964. His sideman during his career included
Fletcher Allen
Fletcher Allen (July 25, 1905 – August 5, 1995) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
Biography
Several published sources have incorrectly stated that Allen was born in Cleveland, Ohio. The Social Security index, the ...
,
Emile Christian,
Bill Coleman,
Peter DuConge
Peter DuConge (1902-1966) was an American jazz reedist, active in the early New Orleans jazz scene.
DuConge was raised in a musical family. His father was a journeyman barber, and had a bass, singing voice. His mother, Daniska, was a soprano. Sh ...
, and
Crickett Smith
William Crickett Smith (February 8, 1881 – August 30, 1944) was an American ragtime, blues and jazz cornetist and trumpeter.
Career
Little is known of Smith's early life, though he was born in Emporia, Kansas, the child of Tennessee Exodust ...
. He recorded ''Jazz and Hot Dance in Denmark'' (
Harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
, 1938) an album as a leader, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was also issued under the name ''Whoa Babe''.
He died in September 1975.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbey, Leon
1900 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American violinists
American jazz bandleaders
Big band bandleaders
American jazz violinists
American male violinists
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
Savoy Bearcats members